What follows success? Many professionals know the truth—that there is often a period of wandering after achievement that can leave us feeling uncertain of how to apply our skills next.
We call it the OK Plateau, and it happens all the time. There are periods in professional life when we find ourselves totally consumed in the pursuit of a certain objective or project. We invest ourselves entirely in the effort, and little by little, things come to fruition. We watch profits or revenues come in, or whatever the harbingers of success may be, and suddenly the mind starts to justify rest. Rest begets comfort, and comfort begets complacency. Before we know it, we’re just resting in the laurels of a victory that came weeks or months ago, and while the competition presses on, we coast on the OK Plateau.
Nowhere do we see this happen more frequently than in the world of presenting. We attribute it to the amount of effort it takes not only to develop the skills, competencies and programs that merit the presentation in the first place, but also the amount of time and effort involved in putting together the presentation. Even once we muster the energy to commence the next great project, we can be loathe to start building the presentation that will sell it the way it ought to be sold.
The Plateau, at the core, is a vision issue. The one trick to goal-setting in life is always making sure we raise the bar. As Brian Tracy, author of Goals, notes, happiness is the pursuit of a worthwhile goal. Achieving goals is great, but only if we have another worthy goal waiting in the wings. When we present, we should always be thinking, “What’s next?” How can we up the ante? How can we get more engagement? How can our success, now the pinnacle of our career, become a stepping stone to greater things?
The key in presenting, as in life, is a constant yearning for the next level. Avoid the OK Plateau by thinking several steps ahead of the possibility of success.
Question: How do you combat the temptation to relax after achievement?
